J-Henry Band

J-Henry grew up in New Jersey in a middle-class family alongside four brothers. Years of listening to his siblings' classic rock collections stirred a need to create his own Neil Young - Lynyrd Skynyrd - Led Zeppelin - inspired "rippin' rock."

By his late twenties Henry was venturing to local haunts to get a sense of how his own rootsy, material might sit with audiences. "Most people aren't really paying attention to the music, and it's fun to just go out and play acoustic by myself" says Henry. After playing at nightspots in northern New Jersey for a couple of years, Anthony Krizan, former guitarist for the '90s band the Spin Doctors, heard one of Henry's sets and invited him to record a demo at his Raritan, NJ, studio.

J-HenryAfter recording three songs in three days with Krizan producing, Henry hit upon a sound he loved for its back-to-basics rock and its not insignificant element of nostalgia. "Remember how great Skynyrd and the Rolling Stones sounded when you saw them, just guitars into the amp?," he asked. "That's how we wanted the music to sound, like it was made 20 years ago." Henry began shopping his demo in 2004.

Word of his gift for crafting story - like, gritty guitar-based songs with common themes spread quickly, and by summer of 2005 J-HENRY was showcasing regularly in New York clubs, working out the details of a deal to perform at NASCAR events across the country, and heading back to the Raritan studio with Krizan to record his debut album, Another Long Day released in September 2005 and the first single, the straight-up rocker "Come On," was climbing the adult contemporary charts. The album spawned two top 10 Hot AC singles and led to great opening act opportunities including Sheryl Crow, Rascal Flatts, Jack Ingram, Charlie Daniels, David Lee Roth, Deep Purple and more.